Family
by Lazra
Summary: Pitch BlackForever Knight AU Riddick reunites with a branch of his family. FINISHED
1. Guess who's coming to dinner.

**Notes:** This story is an Alternate Universe from the movie Pitch Black, so the timeline is a little off from the movie. My characters come from the universe of the TV series "Forever Knight," although I made them (i.e. they're my original creations) and a few technicalities up as I went along. If you are not familiar with FK, don't worry. The characters and events of that series are only mentioned in passing, plus I kinda screw around with the FK canon so it doesn't really matter. ***Addendum: Okay, okay, so I changed my mind, big hairy deal. Part 8 gets Lacroix (one of the main FK characters) more than passingly involved in the story.

* * *

Zeke trudged back to the gravesite with a heavy burden...and a heavier conscience. He'd shot a man in cold blood. Sure, he'd thought it was Riddick, but still, the taking of a life wasn't an easy thing to carry. Zeke most certainly didn't want to carry it.

__

Damn Riddick, he thought. _Working everyone's nerves 'till they're so fucking scared they'd bloody shoot themselves._

As he made his way to the grave he'd already dug, he saw that the wind had knocked a corner of his makeshift canopy from its post. He pulled the corner up, meaning to refasten it, but he noticed something.

There was a hole in the side of the grave. Zeke hopped into the grave and examined the hole a bit closer. He heard odd clicking and growling noises inside. Curious, he pulled the loose sand out of the hole's entrance and grabbed his flashlight. The little light didn't provide much illumination, but it was enough for Zeke to see something moving towards him rapidly.

His reaction was to back away, but before he could move, he was shoved out of the way by something that had catapulted itself from the hole and landed on top of him. Zeke struggled to shove it off of him and in doing so the gun in his pocket accidentally went off. The bullet scorched a path along the skin of his thigh. It didn't go below the skin, but it still hurt like a bitch. Zeke clenched his teeth over a scream, pulled the gun out and aimed it at whatever had ejected itself from the hole.

His breath caught in his throat as he stared down the gunbarrel at young woman. She was in her mid-twenties with long, _very_ long red hair and bright green eyes. Her clothes were the tattered remnants of some kind of jumpsuit or uniform. She crouched next to him where he'd shoved her, clearly just as shocked to see another human being as he was.

"Zeke! Zeke!" Shazza's voice cried out. He heard her rapid footsteps approach and then stop when she was visible above the rim of the grave. "Zeke, what-"

Whatever Shazza was going to say next died in her throat as she glanced up and saw Riddick's hulking form towering over Zeke and the girl, clutching a bone knife in his fist. Zeke caught her terrified expression and whirled the gun on Riddick, but he was already gone.

Zeke swore and punched the side of the grave near the hole. The girl backed away from the hole fearfully. The clicking/growling he'd heard earlier resumed. The immediate danger of Riddick gone and not being able to chase after him with a bum leg, Zeke bent to investigate. "Hello?" he called. "Anyone else in there?"

No sooner had he bent down than something grabbed him and yanked him headfirst into the hole. Shazza leapt down and grabbed Zeke's protruding legs. Zeke's gun fired shot after shot, and he screamed in agony. The girl pulled Shazza away from Zeke and the hole. She struggled against the girl but was held in an iron grip. Shazza watched helplessly as the rest of Zeke's body was sucked inside the hole. His screaming died suddenly, and Shazza could hear the sickening sound of bones being crunched.

"Zeke..." she whispered, not wanting to believe what she'd just seen. "Oh, Zeke..."

The girl picked Shazza up and pulled her out of the grave.

* * * * *

Riddick ran from the gravesite through the towering spires. Not because he was afraid of the gun or whatever was making that noise in the hole, but because he needed time to think.

He knew the girl that Zeke had found. Knew her quite well, in fact. The problem was that she was thought to be dead. Riddick had never dared to hope that she might still be alive, not after this much time. Where had she been? Why hadn't she ever come back? Had she been trapped on this planet all this time?

Riddick's whirling thoughts made him miss Johns' presence. As he ran past a spire, Johns whipped his baton around and hit Riddick's ankle. Riddick sprawled on the ground, but was quick to get up. Johns jumped on him, and the two men grappled for control. In the scuffle, Johns managed to pull the dark goggles off of Riddick's face. The harsh triple sunlight instantly blinded his unprotected eyes. Johns used that handicap to land blow upon blow to Riddick's head, eventually knocking him out.

Everyone from the crash soon gathered around Johns and Riddick, even Shazza and the girl. "Alright," Johns said loudly to get everyone's attention. "First, we get him secured at the ship. Then _you_," he pointed at the girl, who started at Johns' tone of voice, "are going to tell us where the fucking water is."

Johns, Imam, Fry and Paris each took a limb and carried Riddick's large form to the ship, where Johns made sure Riddick wouldn't be able to escape again. That task finished, everyone gathered outside the ship.

Johns addressed the girl. "Okay, so where's the water?"

She said nothing, only stared at the area of the ship where Riddick was held.

Johns smiled. "Don't worry," he soothed. "He's chained up ten ways to Hell. He can't hurt you."

She stared at Johns, cocking her head to one side as if listening to something.

Johns' patience snapped. "_Tell us where the goddamned water is!_"

Imam stepped between Johns and the girl. "Yelling will only frighten her," he admonished. He turned to her. "What is your name, child?"

She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it with a frown. Her throat and jaw muscles worked around, exercising themselves as if it had been a very long time since she had spoken. When the words finally came, they were hoarse and barely above a whisper, "Release him."

Johns was incredulous. "Who? _Him?_" he pointed to the ship. "You're outta your mind, girlie. He's a _murderer_. I'm not letting him loose." He took out his gun and aimed it at her face. "The water," he demanded.

Neither of them saw the shocked faces of the others. If they did see, they didn't seem to give a damn.

She smiled with superiority as she slowly sat cross-legged in the sand. With a clearer voice, she said, "If you kill me, you will never find the water. Without me, you will die of thirst before ever finding it. I will not help you until he is released." She crossed her arms and jutted her chin out stubbornly, daring him to test her resolve.

Johns smiled cruelly. "You're gonna let all these people die...even these kids?" He gestured to Jack and the younger of the Islams.

Her smile didn't waver. "I have survived this long without you. I can survive without you now. As for the children, they will die. Be it from thirst today, nightcrawlers tomorrow, or old age in the distant future, they will die. It is only a question of when and how, and what do I care what the answer is?"

Johns raised his gun to hit her with it, but Fry grabbed his arm. "Just release him, Johns. He hasn't actually tried to hurt anyone, and it's the only way we'll survive right now."

Johns stared hard at Fry, then turned his eyes to everyone else. They all nodded in agreement with Fry. "Alright," he said. "_Alright_, but the first time he lays open someone's throat don't come cryin' to me!"

He stalked into the ship and glared at Riddick, who was now awake. "Here's the deal," he said. "You work without chains, without bit, and without shivs. You help us..."

Riddick stared hard at Johns. He'd heard what had happened outside. His sensitive ears had picked up every last syllable. Now Johns wanted to feel a little more butch about himself after being humbled by a girl, so acted like he was doing Riddick a favor.

__

Fine by me, he thought to himself. _I'll play along with your game, Mr. Johns, but she and I have been playin' it longer, and we won't be outdone by a bastard like you._

Aloud he said, "Help you for what? For the honor of goin' back to some asshole of a cell? Fuck you!"

Johns made a show of putting his gun aside. "Truth is, Riddick, 'cause I'm tired of chasin' you."

Riddick frowned. He hadn't expected that move. _Touché, Mr. Johns. _"You sayin' you'd cut me loose?"

Johns shrugged. "I'm thinkin' you coulda died in the crash."

Riddick's throat rumbled in a half-growl, half-purr as he considered what Johns said. "My recommendation: do me. Don't take the chance I won't get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass."

"Do we have a deal?" Johns asked.

"Ghost me, motherfucker! _I'd do the same to you!_"

Johns whipped out the gun and fired a blast at Riddick's head. He'd ducked, and the shot tore through the chains that held him back. He slowly lowered his arms and let the shot stop ringing through his ears.

"I want you to remember this moment...the way it could have gone, but didn't." Johns held out the goggles to Riddick. "Do we have a deal?"

Riddick reached out with one hand to accept the offering, then thrust out his other and snatched the gun from Johns' grip. He stood there, torn between the desire to end their cat-and-mouse games, and the desire for freedom.

"I want you to remember this moment," he menaced, then tossed the gun aside and took his goggles.

Outside, the girl had stood up and was waiting for the two men to emerge. Everyone got nervous when they heard the gunshot. If Riddick had killed Johns, then Riddick had a weapon and their best protection against him was dead. If Johns had killed Riddick, then this girl might not lead them to water, and let them die of thirst. Only she knew better, though. She saw Riddick come out first with Johns (and his gun) close behind. The chains around his wrists dragged behind him, making twin tracks in the sand.

"Okay," said Johns jovially. "Now that everyone's here, let's go find that water."

The girl smiled impishly. "Did you apologize to him?"

"Apologize for what?!"

"For beating him up. That was very rude of you, you know."

Riddick smiled.

Johns scowled darkly at her. A muscle worked in his jaw as if he were pretending to bite off her head. He turned to Riddick and gave him a curt "Sorry!"

She clucked her tongue at him. "I don't think you meant it."

Riddick laughed at Johns' darkening face. He didn't know Johns could turn that particular shade of purple. "Ah, Angel-girl. I _have_ missed your sense of humor."

She giggled and ran to him. His big arms swept her up into an embrace. "I've missed you too, Richie."

"You two _know_ each other?" Johns asked. That shade of purple didn't really look healthy to Riddick.

Riddick let go of her, but kept a protective arm around her shoulders. "Forgive my manners, Johns. Angel, this is Mr. Johns, the bastard of a merc that's been hunting me for over a year now. Johns, this is Angela Riddick...my baby sister."


	2. Guess who's going to *be* dinner!

No one spoke for a long time. Jack was a little deflated by the realization that her hero was, in fact, only human. Imam smiled because he knew that if a murderer could care for a sibling, it was proof that any soul could be redeemed. Fry and the others wondered if she was psychopathic like her brother. And Johns...Johns was the first to break the silence.

"_Holy fuck_!"

Angela frowned at him. "Do you talk to your mother with that filthy mouth?"

Johns was almost hyperventilating in fury. "Two Riddicks...as if _one_ wasn't a curse to humanity, now we have _two_!"

"Calm down, Mr. Johns," Imam tried to diffuse the situation. "You don't even know her."

Johns took deep breaths. He wasn't going to lose control. In his business when you lose control, you make mistakes, and that wasn't an option around Riddick. He smiled to them. "Alright, Imam. You're right, I don't know her, but I'm keeping my eyes on both of them, and I suggest you all do the same."

The Riddick siblings shared a look and smiled. Each knew what the other was thinking. _Riddicks=1. Johns=0._

"Mr. Johns," Angela called to him.

"What?"

"The water is this way." She turned, and they all started a march to the bone valley.

__

So we would have found the water after all, Johns groused to himself. _Bitch._ He silently vowed to make her pay for tricking him into releasing Riddick.

The siblings stayed well ahead of the group, talking about old times. She seemed reluctant to talk about her time here and where she'd been all these years. She was content to listen to her brother's tales of where he'd been, what he'd done, and the "family" they shared back home and how they were doing last time Riddick had seen them. Though Angela only listened with half an ear. She was worried about what would happen when they reached the camp.

Riddick noticed her preoccupied look. "What's wrong, Angel-girl?"

She stopped. They were at the base of a hill at the end of the valley. Over that hill was the camp. "We have to tell them."

Riddick glanced back at the group, who stared expectantly at the siblings. "Is that wise? They wouldn't find out. Hell, Johns doesn't even know."

"What's the holdup?" Johns called out to them. "Forgot the way?"

"Actually, Mr. Johns," Angela snapped at him, "we were debating whether to kill you by strangulation or a knife to the throat. I prefer strangulation, myself. I'll get to watch you suffer longer."

"Lousy bitch," Johns muttered as he raised his gun and fired two quick shots. Riddick stepped in front of Angela, and both bullets exploded into his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. Angela didn't blink.

Johns shrugged off his missed mark. _At least I got rid of one_, he thought smugly, even though it meant getting only half the original bounty. "Now take us to the water, or you're next."

She smiled. "Just wait."

Johns advanced on her but stopped dead in his tracks when Riddick lurched upright, swearing a blue streak. Angela took the bone knife from him and used it to pry the bullets out of his chest, causing more pained swearing.

"Did you have to do it that way? You coulda just _told_ them."

"Yes, but they wouldn't have believed me. Besides, I wanted Mr. Johns to shoot _me_. You're the one who decided to play hero."

"It's my job to protect you, remember?"

Fry came up to them. "What the hell just happened here?" A glance told them that everyone else was just as shocked as Fry.

Riddick peeled off his shirt to show them all the two holes in his chest...or rather where they'd been. They were just little pink scars now, and in a few seconds, the wounds would no longer be visible at all.

He sauntered over to Johns. Johns backed away nervously, raising his gun. "Whatsa matter, Johnsy? Never seen a vampire before? Might as well put the gun away, you just saw it won't work on me."

"A vampire?" Johns repeated numbly. "That's impossible. There's no such thing!"

"Aw c'mon, Johns. You've seen what's left of people when I get done...one corpse with a slashed neck and not a lot of blood to show for it."

Johns blinked, and Riddick was gone. An arm came from behind and grabbed Johns' gun hand. The other arm grabbed him by the throat and turned him around. He found himself eyes to teeth with a pair of long white fangs. His gun dropped from his nerveless fingers.

Riddick's voice was more of a growl than a whisper. "You didn't think someone who does what I do - and enjoys it so much - could be human, did you?"

His tongue snaked out and passed over the sharpened teeth like a jaguar licking its chops before pouncing on its prey. The hand around Johns' throat tightened, and Johns closed his eyes in preparation to be eaten.

Riddick threw Johns away from him. "I wouldn't poison myself with your blood, Johns. You're tainted."

"And besides that," Angela spoke up, "it's kind of an unspoken rule now that we try not to kill when we feed. Last time I was in civilization, cops were getting too good at finding us. So instead of one dead human, we get lots of humans with a sudden case of anemia." She shrugged. "Of course, it's been quite a while since I've been in civilization. Maybe cops have gotten dumber since then." She eyed Johns. "Given the evidence before me, I wouldn't be too terribly shocked if that were true."

She sat on a rock and addressed all of the nervous eyes staring at her and her brother. "There is a specific reason I'm letting you people know the truth about us. We usually keep ourselves secret. In fact my brother here is an Enforcer. It's his job to kill anyone - human or vampire - who endangers the secrecy of the community. However, under the circumstances, I'm willing to bend the rules if he is. I'm telling you about us because Richie and I aren't the only ones here. About twenty-five years ago, a geological team came. I was _beyond_ elated when I saw them - hell, just to have someone to talk to again. I began hyperventilating when I saw that a few of the geo team members were vampires. Richie, you remember Inigo, don't you?"

"Hard to forget him. He was my first blood."

"He's here. Most of the vamps in the team were security techs. I think only two of them were actual geologists. Anyway when I found them, I told them about the creatures, like the ones that killed your Zeke. They didn't quite believe me - I guess they thought I'd too much sun and solitude - so I showed them. They still didn't see them as a real threat because they're afraid of light. It hurts them, so they stay in their tunnels. I knew an eclipse would be coming, though. They'd come out and kill everyone."

Her voice turned bitter. "The idiots still weren't afraid. They refused to call their company to come and get them - and me - out of here before it was too late. They figured that between metal walls and their security force, they'd be okay. When the eclipse came, the fools locked themselves in the coring room. Thought they'd be safe, except that they'd forgotten they had drilled right into the nightcrawlers' tunnel system. They were all eaten, and out of over a dozen vampire security techs, only four are left, not including me."

Riddick put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault, Angel. The entire human race has a terminal case of stupidity. Don't blame yourself for their deaths."

But she did. Riddick knew how much she valued human life, just like their dead brother Nicholas always had. She would blame herself for every drop of blood that was shed because they hadn't listened to her.

Fry spoke up. "If you were here before the geological team, then just how long have you been here? How did you get here in the first place?"

She sighed and clasped the hand on her shoulder. "Do they still use cryo-chambers for deep space travel?"

"No," Riddick answered. "Stopped using those about a century and a half ago. They use a kind of suspended animation now, though they still call it cryo-sleep."

"Well, I left civilization in the year 2113. I used the name Angelique Bertoia at the time-"

"The first cryo-flight," Fry interrupted. Everyone look at her. "2113 was the year that they first used cryo-chambers for long space flights. Radio contact with the vessel - the _Del Rey_ I think - was lost about three months into the flight. The ship was lost, everyone was presumed dead. The head physician of the ship was Dr. Angelique Bertoia."

Angela gave a humorless snort. "So I've made it into the history books?" She shook her head. "The flight - it was the _Marina Del Rey_ by the way - was supposed to be a twelve month trip from Earth to New Belfast. A total of twenty people in cryo, plus the captain and pilot on deck. Everyone was monitored by computer, and if anything went wrong, I would be the first one thawed out."

She sighed. "I don't know what happened. When I woke up, we had already crashed here. The chambers had completely failed, even before the crash. They only reason I'm alive is because I'm immortal. Even if the chambers hadn't failed, those people would never have survived the crash. I never found the bodies of the captain and pilot, and what was left of the computer told me that the emergency skiff had been jettisoned almost a month before the crash." She looked up at Riddick. "Exactly what year is it now, Richie?"

"2395."

"282 years," she sighed. "That's a long time." She closed her eyes. "Seen father lately?"

"Not lately," Riddick smiled. "Last time I saw him, he was hunting me just like Johns here. He was a region captain in the merc forces last I heard from him."

Angela laughed. "Lucien Lacroix, a law enforcement officer? That's rich."

"Nah, just the only way he could hunt and kill legally. A lot of vamps join the MAE."

"What's the MAE?"

"Mercenary Association of Earth...and strictly speaking, they're bounty hunters, not law enforcement. I should know."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Well if bonding time is over," Johns called out to them, "I'd like to go get that water now."

Angela shook her head. "No, Mr. Johns, _Richie and I_ can get the water. In case you didn't hear me before, there are four other vampires living on this planet, and they're expecting me to return with food. We've been feeding on nothing but nightcrawlers since we came here, and human blood would be an unexpected but welcome treat. Richie and I will go ahead. I'll explain to the others that we have guests, not hors d'ouevres, and Richie will bring back some water for you. Would that be satisfactory?"

"Do we have a choice?"

She smiled, and then she and Riddick turned and continued towards the camp. Johns followed as far as the top of the hill, where he saw the remains of the geological outpost. He watched the vampires walk side by side down to the camp, then turned and went back to the others. "I don't trust those two."

"It doesn't matter if we trust them or not," Fry said. "They're our only hope for survival. They've lived here for a while, especially her, and they seem willing to let us live too."

Johns snorted disdainfully. "Things that have admitted to not only killing, but _eating_ people are our only hope for survival. That's great, that just _fucking_ great."

None of the human survivors saw a pair of golden eyes watching them from the top of the ravine.


	3. Secrets and Neighbors

Riddick waited until he heard Johns go back to the others before addressing his little sis. "You really been here that long, Angel-girl?"

She didn't answer, and Riddick heard her starting to gasp for breath. He faced her and saw twin trails of tears coursing down her cheeks. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly to him. "Hey now, Angel. What's this about?"

Her voice came through choked sobs. "They're going to die...It's going to happen all over again...Another eclipse is coming...any day now and...I won't be able to save them..."

Riddick didn't bother trying to comfort her with platitudes and "Oh, it'll be alright." Truth was, he was a little frightened himself. If those thing could reduce more than a dozen vampires down to five, then they were plenty dangerous. And she was right - barring a miracle, the blood bags they just left in the ravine were as good as dead...and he had never been very religious.

As they neared the camp grounds, Angela quickly collected herself. The door to one of the larger buildings opened, and a man stepped out. He had longish dark hair and a scruffy beard, but that didn't keep Riddick from recognizing Inigo Carlos Vasquez. "_Hola, viejo. ¿Cómo estás?_"

Inigo's eyes widened. "Ricardo?"

"_Sí, mi amigo._"

Inigo came forward to grasp hands with his one-time ward and friend. "It has been a long time, Ricardo. You have a ship? This is a rescue, no?"

Inigo's eyes were so hopeful and desperate, Riddick hated to disappoint his old friend. "Sorry, amigo. We crash landed on this rock. Looks like we're all stuck here."

"I...I see," he intoned sadly. His attention perked up a bit. "'We'?"

"Eight humans survived the crash with me. Would've been nine, but those nightcrawlers got one of 'em."

"And they're not to be harmed," Angela warned him. "I want everyone to know that as far as feeding goes, we're sticking to nightcrawlers. These people didn't make it this far to become a buffet."

"Where are they?" Inigo asked.

Riddick hooked a thumb towards the ravine. "Back there."

"Then you'd better get to them. Collin went that direction earlier."

Riddick didn't recognize the name. "I'll hurry with that water."

* * * * *

Jack took a hit off of her breather. At least they got to rest a bit after that long walk.

Vampires...it was too weird to be true, but it was. No wonder she had such a bad case of hero worship for Riddick. A vampire wouldn't take shit from anyone, let alone some bastard whose only claim to you and your inheritance was "I screwed your mom once."

She forced her thoughts away from her past and refocused on Riddick. She wondered how old he was. His little sis was at least three-hundred, so he had to be older. Jack couldn't imagine being able to live that long.

Jack was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she never saw the hand reaching down to her. However, Johns did see it and the body it was attached to. It was obviously another vampire. It clung to the sheer cliff wall of the ravine, defying every law of gravity as it reached for the kid's head. Johns leveled his gun and fired, but it had seen him and skittered back up the wall before the bullet could connect with its mark.

Fry and Shazza both advanced on Johns. Shazza grabbed the gun while Fry grabbed Johns. They hadn't seen it go for the kid. "It was another vampire!" he yelled pointing to where it had climbed over the top of the ravine.

Shazza and Fry back away from him. Everyone fearfully scanned the ravine walls. Imam and his boys began chanting a prayer.

"Would you _shut the fuck up_!" Riddick yelled. "Gives me a headache."

"All the more reason to keep it up," Johns taunted.

"Not really, Johnsy." Riddick eyed him, and in a low voice said, "Headaches make me cranky." He smiled and set down two large jugs of water and some battered tin cups. "Help yourselves, ladies and gents."

They made their way to the water still glancing upward. "There was another vampire here," Shazza said. "It made a grab for young Jack here."

Riddick eyed Shazza angrily. "We may not be human, but we're still people, and we don't like being referred to as 'it'." He turned his attention to the cliff wall near Jack. "_Collin_!" he yelled at the wall. "Collin McCullough, get your ass down here _now_!"

Above Jack, a head popped into view, then disappeared again. A second later, a body hurled itself off the cliff and landed crouched at Riddick's feet. He was small and gaunt. Didn't look a day over twenty, but Riddick knew better than to guess age by appearance. He knew Collin here hadn't hit his first century yet. His eyes were glowing and his fangs were extended in full vamp mode. Young ones usually had a little trouble keeping a human appearance, especially when faced with easy prey.

"Collin," he warned, "you can't eat them. Angela says these people are off-limits."

Collin made a face. "I'd never eat 'em. I'm Carouche. Only blood I've ever 'ad is nightcrawlers. I was just curious 'bout that cap." He nodded in Jack's direction. "Used te 'ave a baseball cap m'self once. Me da given it te me when I was a tot. Left it be'ind when I came on this mission. Bloody fucked up 'round 'ere, ain't it? Rather 'ave me cap back than this sorry sea o' sand."

"What's 'ca-roosh'?" Jack asked as she tossed the cap over to Collin. He smiled at her and put it on.

"A lower breed of vampire. Their first blood was animal instead of human. Makes 'em weaker than the rest of us somehow, and they crave the animal's blood, not humans." Riddick took the cap from Collin, ignoring his sad look, and gave it back to Jack.

"Well, what exactly is your pedigree, Mr. Riddick?" Paris asked then wished he hadn't when Riddick focused on him. "If...If you don't mind my asking, that is."

"Angela already told you, an Enforcer. My first blood was another vampire. Makes me more powerful than most others."

"Wow," was Jack's soft reply. She frowned, "But if you're so strong, why don't you just eat Johns and get him off your back?"

Johns was about to yell at Jack, but the sound of Riddick's laughter stopped him. "Like I said, kid, he's tainted. Not even the most desperate vamp would suck his sorry hide."

"What do you mean 'tainted'?" Shazza asked. "What's so special about him that he's immune from attack?"

Riddick smiled at Johns. "You wanna tell 'em, or should I?"

All eyes were on Johns and Riddick. Johns had the decency to look extremely uncomfortable. "Tell us what?" asked Shazza.

Johns worked a muscle in his jaw. Riddick crossed his arms.

Collin snorted a laugh. "Tell ya that 'e's full o' bloody chemicals, that's whot. Been takin' 'em so long they're part of his body now, dancin' a waltz wi' 'is cell structure. Can fucking smell it from over 'ere, just waftin' on the breeze like bloody perfume."

Riddick laughed too. "I'm guessing you were brought across during the last eclipse."

Collin grinned boyishly. "Aye, sir. One o' them crawlin' nasties carved me a new navel. 'Er ladyship wouldn't let me die, so she tore off its leg and beat it te death wi' its own clawed foot. Wouldn't 'ave survived if she 'adn't brought me across." He eyed Riddick with amusement. "So me youth shows, does it? 'Em older ones is always treatin' me like a wee babe. I was man enough in me own right when I was human. Why is it now that I'm one o' ye, I get coddled and lectured like some toddlin' brat?"

"Because you _are_ a brat, Collin," Angela answered from the top of the hill. Inigo and two other scruffy-looking vamps were with her. "You're impatient and petulant. You have no self-control, particularly with your appetite, and you have no idea what it truly is to be a vampire." She smiled and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Not that you're to blame. This is hardly the place for a fledgling to grow up."

She looked to Johns. "Mr. Johns, before we go any further, I would like to make it quite clear that your are no longer in charge of this group; I am...Any objections?"

Johns leveled his gun at her again. "You bet I do."

Riddick sighed and shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you, Johns. The rules have not only changed, they've fuckin' flown out the window. Doesn't matter what size gauge you got, it won't hurt us." Lightening quick, he snatched the gun from Johns' open hand. "If you could even actually hit one of us."

"And we've been here a while," Angela added. "This place is habitable for vampires. With our aid, it can be habitable for humans as well." She took the gun from Riddick and gave it back to Johns. "If you want our help, it will be under _my_ leadership. If you don't like that, tough. You can go on your merry way, and if you're _extremely_ lucky, you'll die of dehydration before the eclipse begins."

"There's going to be another eclipse?" Paris stammered. "Soon?"

"Any day now," she confirmed his fear.

Imam knelt on the ground and began pouring cups of water. "Then perhaps we should say a prayer to Allah, to guide us through these hard times." He passed the water to his boys, who in turn passed it to the others in the group before claiming a cup for themselves. When every human had water and were thirstily gulping it down, he addressed their vampiric entourage. "If it would not offend our hosts, of course."

"Not at all," she smiled warmly at the holy man. "You don't spend three centuries in a place like this and not say prayer every now and then."

Everyone drank their share of the water and rested in silence for a while. After a few minutes, Imam gathered his group, and they began their prayers again.

Inigo eyed them warily as he poured himself some water. He took a sip to cool his mouth, then splashed the rest on his face to ease the burn from the suns. He looked at the sky and corrected himself, one sun. The red stars had set, leaving the solitary blue star to illuminate the planet.

Angela closed her eyes, listening to the prayer as her body swayed to the chant's rhythm. Riddick, however, shared Inigo's discomfort. Even when human, neither man had held a particularly high opinion of any religion.

When Imam finished the prayer, the odd mix of humans and vampires trekked the last fifty or so meters to the camp. Shazza gave the buildings a good looking over as they came nearer. A lot of the buildings had been cut up. The pre-fab walls dismantled or shredded in order to shore up the walls of one large building. Its walls were a patchwork of metal sheets welded together.

The patchwork building was their destination. Even with vampiric strength, it took Inigo and one of the others to muscle aside a two-foot thick door. Once everyone was inside, they grappled it back into place with the loud echoing _clang_ of metal on metal.

"We've been fortifying this building since the last eclipse," Angela explained. "It used to be the barracks, but we've removed most of the beds. Cleared it out to make plenty of room for ourselves, even knocked out the back wall and extended the whole thing to make it larger. The floor's six feet of concrete, so the bastards can't dig in from under us. We've added layers to the walls and poured more concrete between the layers."

"Wouldn't that make the walls too heavy?" Shazza asked. "Topple over the first time those things took a swipe at 'em?"

Another vampire, dark hair and silver-gray eyes, nodded. "Yeah, that's why we took the long drill bits from the coring room and stuck 'em down the walls before we poured the concrete, like fence posts. Plus we've been building these," he slapped his hand on a stone pillar that laid against the walls. More pillars held up the walls elsewhere and also dotted the interior, holding up the fortified ceiling. "Name's Henri, by the way. Henri Rebenque."

Shazza shivered at the hungry look he gave her. Though she couldn't tell if it was her blood or a shag that he was hungry for, maybe both. Either way, he wasn't getting it. She gave him an icy stare, then pointedly ignored him.

Henri smiled to himself. He liked a good challenge, especially with such a lovely prize at the end of the game.


	4. Chores and Children

The remainder of the day passed more or less harmoniously for the group. Everyone got introduced properly...

Collin was a mineral expert from Scotland.

Inigo was chief security officer for the geological mission and used to be an interrogator during the Spanish Inquisition of the 16th Century.

Henri was also security, but he started out his life as an architect and a painter during the Renaissance in France.

Daniel Marin was the last of the vampire group. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed with boyishly handsome features, he almost could have been Johns' long-lost brother. However, Daniel was infinitely more likable. With the exception of Angela, the others were pretty stand-offish from the humans. Giving orders, teaching them how to perform a particular task, but not really interacting with them. But Daniel smiled, joked, and pretty much acted as if everyone here was on equal standing. His way of thinking was, _Mortality, schmortality. We can die too, it's just a little harder._

Daniel was the resident mechanic, harking back to his days as a diesel mechanic in 20th Century California. He was in the middle of trying to move the water pump indoors, and enlisted Imam's help when the holy man offered his own technical experience with the job.

Henri was in charge of fortifying the building. There was one last pillar to build before everything was complete. Riddick helped him with the muscle work of flying a chunk of cut rock to its position, whereupon Henri would layer cement on the rock and its placement and help Riddick shove the rock into place.

Jack and Ali helped by stirring the cement in a 50 gallon drum to keep it from drying out too quickly. Though, the youngsters were hard-pressed to concentrate on their given task. They would stare fascinated as Riddick hefted a boulder onto his shoulders with very little visible effort, then float upward to where Henri was slathering the cement. More than once, they got yelled at, and they would give the cement a hard stir before once again becoming entranced by the sight.

Collin made the cement for them. They had long ago run out of the cement they had originally brought with them. He used his mineral expertise to find stones with similar enough properties to make a homemade cement. He took Shazza under his wing and taught her what properties to look for in the rock samples and what proportions they were to be mixed in.

Every hour or so, Shazza would take a couple of pounds of dry mix and some water and dump it into Jack and Ali's drum. She'd help them stir until it was smooth enough for them to do it alone. Every time she was about to leave them, Henri would glide down and smile at her, then ignore her in favor of refilling his bucket and trowel. She would immediately turn and go back to her station with Collin.

Hasan and Rashad helped Collin with his other assignment. Not only did Collin make the cement for the building, he made pigments for Henri's mural. Quite soon after the first eclipse, Henri had proclaimed that if he wasn't able to express himself creatively, or at least have something to do with his spare time, he would go stark raving mad. So Collin offered to make him some paint. A tricky task since most paint pigments came from plant sources, and those weren't exactly in abundance. But he'd prevailed, and Henri began painting his masterpiece on the back wall of the barracks. It was a landscape of his native French countryside, very peaceful and green. It almost made them forget that they were in a desert wasteland with monsters living beneath their feet.

Angela was in charge of what little plant life they did have. A large corner of the room was sanctioned off for the few flowers and even some vegetable plants, all potted on the floor or hanging from the ceiling. They added to the effect of Henri's mural. Fry tended to the potted plants, while Angela cared for the plants hung too high for Fry to reach.

Only Inigo and Johns had no specific chore to do. They floated around from station to station seeing of what help they could be. Inigo would help Riddick with an especially large rock, or snap at the kids to keep stirring.

Johns had the hardest time of it. No one wanted his company. The vampires had taken their cue from Riddick: he's a pest to be ignored. The humans decided they couldn't trust a junkie with a gun who loses his temper so easily. He made a round of the stations, and at each one, he was told, "No thanks, we don't need you," or "Thank you, but we've got things under control here." In short, he was very politely shunned.

In a huff of frustration, he laid on one of beds and grabbed the book sitting on a nearby table. Dante's _Inferno_, read the leather-bound cover.

"Just don't lose my place," Henri called to him from the ceiling. "I've just gotten to the funny part." A round of chuckles greeted the joke.

Resigned to the fact that no one wanted to work with him, he opened the book and began reading.

Riddick smiled at the irony of it. He knew Johns had quit secondary school when he was fifteen to join the MAE. A lot of mercs were high-school drop-outs with violent streaks. _At least he's finally getting some higher learning_, he thought.

After a few hours of labor, Jack and Ali's arms were ready to fall off. Rashad, Hasan, and Shazza were no better off after grinding rocks into powder. Even Riddick was beginning to feel the burn from lifting boulders.

A cry of triumph echoed in the room. All eyes turned to see Daniel and Imam turn on the water pump. The water poured into a large cement basin and drain through the pipes in the floor. Daniel addressed the room, "Ladies and gentlemen, we now have indoor plumbing."

There was a small round of applause, then Angela spoke, "This calls for a celebration."

"Yeah," Riddick agreed, moving away from the rock he'd been about to lift. "Besides, some of us need a break." He ruffled Jack's hair, and she smiled back.

"Whatsa matter, Richie?" Johns didn't even look up from the book. "Picking up pebbles too big a job for you?"

"_You_ try lifting those things up there," he grated. Johns only snorted a laugh. Riddick stalked over to him, slapped the book away, and dragged him up to eye level by the throat. "And _don't_ call me 'Richie'."

"Richard," Angela warned.

Riddick snarled, showing his fangs, then dropped Johns back on the bed. "You should take the time to thank the lady, Johns. She's the only reason I haven't killed you yet."

"Thought you'd never suck my sorry hide?" He reclaimed the book from the floor.

"I don't have to eat you to kill you."

Angela pulled Riddick away. "That's enough, both of you! The temper tantrum game has gotten old, Richard. The two of you are acting like preschoolers...Daniel and Imam have the water flowing; you and Henri are almost done with the last pillar. Let's take a break and be thankful for what we've got, instead of measuring to see who has the biggest dick in the room!"

Her tirade over, she stormed over to her bed and yanked a guitar case out from under it. Hyped up from her anger, she nearly tore the lid from its hinges opening it. She pulled out the guitar, sat on the bed, and began strumming a simple melody. Soon, the angry creases on her forehead smoothed out as she relaxed.

Johns went back to Dante. Riddick ignored him and lounged on the bed next to Angela. Everyone dropped their chores and either got a glass of water or gathered to listen to Angela play.

"We'll need more beds for everyone," Riddick noted.

"After break, we'll dig up a few more," she responded.

"Do you think the eclipse has happened yet?" Jack asked a little fearfully.

Henri patted her head. "Not quite yet, _petit_, but not much longer."

"Are the beds far from here?" Fry didn't want anyone too far away, in case Angela's calculations about the eclipse were off.

"Nah," Collin said. "They're just across from the ol' mess 'all, next te the skiff."

Shazza looked up sharply. "Skiff? You have a skiff?"

Angela stopped playing. "Don't get your hopes up. The power cells were fried in a lightening storm, along with most of the wings. We could patch the wings, but it still wouldn't have any juice."

She moved to start playing again, but Riddick slapped his hand over the strings. He turned to Fry, "What about our ship?"

"What about it?" she frowned, then her eyes widened with the realization. "We have power cells on our ship."

* * * * *

Fry, Johns, and the vampires made a quick flight to the crash ship. Everyone else stayed behind to patch the wings.

Fry ran to bowels of her ship and gave the cells a quick once-over. Some of them were damaged, but for the most part, they seemed intact. She started unlocking them from their holding places and passing them to whoever was nearby.

Riddick grabbed the first two cells and took off for the skiff. Once there, he jury-rigged the electronics of the skiff to the cell and began doing a systems check. Nothing glaringly amiss other than the wings, and Shazza and Imam had very nearly finished the wing patches. He did a quick calculation and figured they would need a total of five cells to get this crate in the air.

Inigo dropped the second two cells off. "Are we good here, Ricardo?"

"We'll need one more cell to get airborne. A few extras wouldn't hurt either. I still need to do a hull integrity test."

Inigo nodded and took off to tell the others.

"So we'll make it, right?" Jack asked from the open hatch.

"If this thing passes an HI test, yes" He booted up the computer for the test, but it bleeped an error message at him. He looked back at Jack, who was still standing on the hatch. "Either get in, or get out. I need to close the door."

Jack walked in, and the door automatically closed after her. Riddick sighed. _Note to self: Never give children an option. They always choose the most annoying one._

Jack flopped into the co-pilot's seat. "'S'ere anything I can do to help?"

"Just stay out of my way," he said as he got up to check the pressure monitors. The gauges slowly made their way up. _So far, so good_, he thought.

"So, how old are you?" Jack asked.

Riddick sighed again. He thought about giving a caustic remark or simply telling her to shut up, but he was afraid that it would burst that little bubble of hero-worship she had for him. Not that he wanted to be anyone's hero, but he was going to be cooped up with her in a small space for a while until a larger ship found them. He didn't want her depressed or giving him sad puppy eyes that whole time.

"I was a Ranger in the American army during World War II."

"Wow, that's what, a century older than your sis?"

He chuckled. "Actually, _she's_ the older sibling. I call her my little sister 'cause she looks younger than me." He smiled mischievously. "Besides, it annoys her. We annoy each other a lot."

"Like the way she calls you Richie?"

"Don't call me that," he said tersely. "I _hate_ that name."

Jack clammed up and pretended to read the panel in front of her.

"So tell me somethin', kid..."

"Yeah?"

He looked her squarely in the eyes. "Why do you pretend to be a boy?"

Her jaw dropped, and she blushed scarlet. "How - how did you know?"

"Vamps can smell blood like a shark." He looked back at the monitors, pretending not to notice the deeper shade of red on her face. The gauges reached 100%, and the hatch hissed open. "Yes!" he crowed. "We are off this fuckin' rock!"

"Glad you've decided to take passengers," Johns droned. He held a cell in his arms. "Now why don't you let a real pilot do this. Fry," he motioned her to the pilot's seat and set down the cell. Six more cells joined it, making a total of nine. They weren't taking any chances.

Fry took her chair and did a run-up on Riddick's HI test. It checked out perfectly. "We're go," she said happily.

They started yanking out the old power cells to give themselves a little more room. The skiff was built to hold eight passengers, plus a pilot and co-pilot. There would be fourteen people in a space built for ten...tight fit.

"C'mon, kid," Riddick motioned Jack outside. "We'll need to gather rations for our trip."


	5. A-hunting we will go.....

Jack scrambled after Riddick, who was looking for liquid containers. "You never answered my question, kid. Why the gender change?"

Jack hesitated, then shrugged. "Doesn't really matter, I guess. I ran away from my dad once, but he found me. I figured if I changed he wouldn't be able to find me so easy."

"Why run away?"

Jack chewed on her lip. "My mom was rich, owned a business. She died in an industrial accident, and left everything to me. She and my dad weren't legally married. In fact, I only met him after she died, and he wanted a share of the money. Only way to get it was to have me sign it over. He tried sweet-talkin' me at first, but I ain't stupid. I knew what he wanted. I ran when he started threatening me. When he caught me, I figured what I'd done wrong and ran again." Her chin jutted out defiantly. "He hasn't caught me yet, and I don't plan on lettin' him."

Riddick smiled. "You got spunk, kid. I like that. When we get back to civilization, I can hook you up with Aristotle. He specializes in making new identities for us. You can disappear and never look back, while still keeping all your money and your gender."

"You'd do that for me?"

He shrugged. "Might as well. I'm going to see him myself. 'Richard B. Riddick' dies on this planet. I need a name without a police record attached to it."

"What name will you use?"

He shuffled through a large crate of old junk, occasionally tossing a usable container to Jack. "Don't know," he answered her. "Might go back to my real name. Definitely need to get these shiners taken out of my eyes."

"That kind of surgery is reversible?"

Riddick chuckled. "You don't quit, do you?" Jack looked away. "I didn't get a 'shine job' surgery. These," he motioned at his eyes, "are just contacts. The doc cut off my cornea, put these in, put the cornea back on, and they healed over the contacts. _Voíla_, instant fake shine."

"Why'd you get 'em in the first place?"

He smiled. "'Cause of Johns, really. You see, Johns doesn't realize it, but he's my plaything. From the moment he began trackin' me down, he became my bitch. It's a game of control: He thinks he has it, but I'm the one that calls the shots. I've been stringin' him along, lettin' him think he had a chance at getting' me. Hell, this time around, I let him go so far as to get me in chains, but everything happens according to how I want it to happen...and eventually that gets boring. I got these shiners 'cause I knew he'd find out. He'd know that it'd be harder to catch me now, and he'd have to alter his strategy a bit, keep the game interesting. But even now, it's gotten boring again. He's dull; I'm moving on."

They had a stack of fifteen usable containers. Riddick took half of them from Jack, and they went to the water pump. "Fill that half with water," he ordered.

"What about the other half?"

"That's for us to fill, unless you want to volunteer your blood for our meals."

Jack shook her head and began filling the containers. Riddick went in search of Angela. He paused and turned back to Jack. "I'll make sure the others know you want to be known as a boy."

Jack sighed with relief that only the vamps would know she's not a guy, and that only Riddick would know why.

Riddick found Angela sharpening a long bit of metal to a fine edge. It had been shaped almost like a sword and looked perfectly lethal. "Helluva shiv," he commented.

She smiled. "Thanks, made it myself."

"You don't have enough blood stored away to last a week or so?"

"No," she huffed. "We don't really have enough to last the rest of the day. I was hunting for blood when I met Zeke." Her face fell a little. "Too bad I didn't get to know him."

He laid a hand on her shoulder. "I don't like the idea of you going down those holes alone."

She laughed. "I've been going down those holes for three centuries. Why should today be different?"

He smiled tightly. "I'm goin' down there with you."

She stood and faced him angrily. "No, you are not!"

"Look, I can handle myself, I know how to use a blade, and given the fact that I'm immortal, I'd be damn difficult for those bastards to kill."

Angela rushed him and thrust her blade through his belly. His midsection gushed blood and bile. She jerked the blade from his body, and he fell to the ground clutching his stomach. The wound immediately began closing up.

"I watched a lot of our kind, a lot of friends, be killed at an inhumanly slow pace. They would 'die' from a wound, only to wake up a second later and _watch_ bits of themselves being eaten. In some cases, it took nearly an hour for them to be killed." Hot tears welled in her eyes. "I could hear every snap of bone, every slurp of entrails, every scream of agony, and I'll be damned if I'll hear that from you."

She cleaned his blood from her blade and gathered her equipment. "If you want to come, you can help Inigo carve the carcasses that I bring out."

* * * * *

Four figures made their way to the spires in the distance. Shazza had come too. She wanted to get a good look at the bastards that killed her Zeke. The three of them laid out their tools while Angela prepped to go in. She took one clean swipe at a spire and cut it off at the base. Not only did that test the sharpness of her blade, but it produced an entry big enough for her to haul out her prey.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself for battle. "Inigo will show you how to prep the carcasses." She jumped down the hole.

Riddick listened intently to the noise below. Shazza did too, but her human ears couldn't pick up what he could. Inigo sat calmly, sharpening a small knife or straightening out a tarp on the ground.

Riddick's ears quirked at the sound of Angela softly humming to herself. He tried to pick out the tune, but she stopped every time there was a scrabbling noise, making it difficult.

"Old MacDonald," Inigo said.

Shazza gave him a quizzical look. "Who's that?"

Inigo smiled. "It's an old folk song. No one remembers it any more, except us old timers. She sings it every time she goes down there. Like a good luck charm for herself."

Angela's voice floated up out of the hole. "If you guys would can it, I could concentrate down here."

Inigo shrugged and leaned against another spire, waiting for her to bring up prey. Riddick went back to listening. She was humming again, then she softly sang a few words.

"Ol' MacDonald had a farm..."

Scrabbling.

"E-I-E-I-O..."

Scrabble, scrabble, growl.

"And on this farm, he had some monsters..."

Growl, click, clickety, click.

"E-I-E-I-O..."

Click, click-k-k-k-k, screech.

"With a slash-bite here..."

Blade-swish, crunch, inhuman scream.

"And a snap-crunch there..."

More blade-swishing, more screams.

"Here some guts, there some blood..."

Scrabble, shuffle, growl cut off by blade-swish.

"Everywhere there's monsters..."

Snap, snap, click-k-k-k, swish.

"Ol' MacDonald had a farm..."

Scream, grunt, swish-swish, crunch.

"E-I-E-I-O..."

Angela's head popped out of the ground. She smiled at her brother, who released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Angela rolled out of the hole with her legs wrapped around a nightcrawler's neck. Its body was flung out onto the tarp Inigo had laid out.

Shazza took a good look at the nightcrawler. The whole thing was mostly teeth and claws, _huge_ teeth and claws. Angela had impaled it in the chest. Blue blood covered its torso and most of Angela.

Angela stood and stepped to Shazza. "I found this." She pressed a ring into Shazza's palm.

Shazza had to bite her lips together to keep from crying. It was the ring she'd seen in a store window. It was a simple silver band with a few decorative etchings. Zeke had seen her admiring it and said that they didn't have enough money for stuff like that. She'd agreed. They had boarded the _Gratzner_ later that evening. _So he bought it for me anyways._ She choked on the sobs that came out. "Oh, Zeke..."

Angela moved to comfort her, but stopped when she remembered she was covered with blood. Uninterested in her sorrow, Inigo had already begun carving up the nightcrawler. Angela looked at Riddick.

He rolled his eyes in an oh-alright fashion and wrapped Shazza in an embrace. She continued to sob, soaking his shirt with anguished tears. He slowly rocked her back and forth while stroking her hair.

With a strangled cry, she broke from his arms, screaming, swearing, and kicking the shit out of the dead beast. Riddick pulled her away and gave her a hard shake. "Get a hold of yourself!"

She sniffed back the last of her tears, wiped her face with the back of her hand, and slipped the ring on her finger. "I'm alright," though she didn't sound very convincing. "I'll go back, see if they've finished the last of the wings yet."

They watched her go for a ways, then bent to their tasks. Angela dropped back down the hole to get another carcass. Inigo had to pick through the creature's now-broken ribs to find the heart. He squeezed the blood out of it, like juicing an orange, into one of the containers that Riddick had brought. He did the same with some of the larger, juicier organs as well.

"Ricardo," he instructed. "Hand me that large bucket."

He did, and Inigo put the liver and several cuts of meat in it. "For the humans to eat," he clarified when he saw Riddick's puzzled frown. "Help me with this." He stood and grabbed the edge of the tarp. Together, they tossed the smoldering body to the side in time for Angela to fling another one out of the hole.

The process repeated until they had several gallons of blood and as much meat as they could carry. Riddick tasted the blood that had gotten on his hands from helping Inigo. It was very thick, almost sweet, without the metallic edge that human blood possessed. Not bad, but something of an acquired taste.

His stomach rumbled. It had been a while since he'd eaten, and he lost quite a bit of blood when Angela had attacked him.

Angela saw him staring hungrily at the bottles they'd collected. "C'mon, Richie. I'll take you down for a bite."

Riddick followed her to the hole and jumped down after her. His "shine job" may have been fake, but he could still see in the dark. He removed his goggles to see dozens of nightcrawlers outlined in the darkness of the cave. Angela had moved out of the shaft of light created by their entryway. "Stay there," she ordered. "I'll bring one to you."

Crouched with blade at the ready, she stalked forward humming her tune. The nightcrawlers seemed to recognize the sound of her voice because they gave her a wide berth. One of them, who either didn't know better or was simply too entranced by the scent of the blood covering her, crept up to her from behind.

She stopped humming and froze in her place. She listened intensely to its clicking sonar, gauging its distance from her. When it came close enough, she whipped around with inhuman speed, and sliced off its legs and wings. She tossed the appendages into the shadows where they were promptly grabbed and eaten.

The creature screamed and writhed in agony. Angela brought the blade down again, cutting the sonar appendages from its head and knocking out its razor teeth. It was now blind and absolutely helpless.

She grabbed it around the neck and wrestled it over to where Riddick waited in the light. "Here, take what you want," she said, exposing the nightcrawler's neck to Riddick. "If you need another, I'll get it. Just let me know."

He nodded and sank his fangs into the beast's fleshy neck. Despite the blood loss from its dismemberment, it was quite filling. As he fed, the nightcrawler slowly stopped flailing. When it gave its last twitch, Riddick released his hold, and Angela tossed the body into the shadows.

"Do you need another?"

He shook his head and patted his stomach. "Nah, just like home-cookin'."

They flew out of the hole and saw Inigo prepped and ready to leave. "Hell of a hunt, eh, Ricardo?"

"Yep," he agreed, flashing a fanged and satisfied smile as the trio made their way back to the skiff.


	6. T-minus...5...4...3...

Collin was always the first to know when Angela was returning from a hunt. She always came back covered with nightcrawler blood, and his nose would be the first to twitch at the scent. He waved to Henri and pointed in the hunting party's direction, the common signal for "She's back."

Henri waved back and returned to his position of staring at Shazza.

Everyone had packed their essentials and stored them on board the skiff. Only the barest traveling necessities were allowed. Everything else was stored in the fortified barracks, so it could be picked up at some future date.

Henri had packed a couple of books, besides the one Johns had taken, and that was pretty much it for him. Henri passed the time now by studying Shazza. She had come back long before the others. Her eyes were red, and she sniffled from unshed tears. Henri wondered what could have affected her so strongly. She didn't seem the type that cried easily.

Shazza was sitting in a chair, leaned back against the torn wall of another building. Her eyes were closed, and her head was tilted back, exposing her neck to the suns. The light reflecting from that glowing skin was like a beacon to Henri.

He strode to her and noticed her twisting a silver ring on her finger. He was certain it hadn't been there when she left. When he was standing next to her, she didn't acknowledge his presence. He gently placed his open palm against her throat.

Shazza lurched upright, inadvertently forcing her neck into his grip. She'd been so preoccupied with thoughts of Zeke, she hadn't noticed Henri's approach. Henri's fingers massaged her neck before releasing her.

"You shouldn't leave yourself vulnerable like that, _ma cher_. For those who haven't had a real meal in over two decades, the temptation may become too great to ignore."

Shazza got up and brushed past him. "I'll keep that in mind."

Henri let her go a few paces, but stopped her cold with his next question. "What was he to you, this Zeke?"

She said nothing.

"Friend?...Confidant?...Lover?..."

She whirled angrily on him. "What bloody fucking business is it of yours!"

He held up his hands in supplication. "I meant nothing by the question, _cherie_. I am only curious."

She clenched her teeth around her decision. She didn't know this Henri, didn't like him, didn't trust him...but she desperately wanted to talk to someone about her feelings. Zeke was the only person she could ever hold an intimate conversation with, but he was gone, and no one else was asking.

He approached her slowly, allowing her time to leave if she wanted to go. She didn't move.

He took her hands in his. "Do you think I've never had human friends? Never been close to someone who knew what I was? I've had friends, lovers, _wives_ who knew exactly what I was. I loved and cared for them as any man would care for his loved ones." He gently cupped her face. "And I have wept hot tears as they died in my arms, the victims of violence, disease, or simply old age. I know what you are going through, _ma cher_. You can talk to me." He released her and stepped back. "If you don't want to talk to me, then I am not offended, but you should talk to someone, _cherie_, perhaps the holy one."

Shazza hugged herself tightly and closed her eyes. "We've been together fer twenty years now. We were better than friends, better than lovers. We were soul mates. I gave up the bloody aristocracy I was born to, so we could be together. I loved him more than anything, and now..."

She disintegrated into choked sobs. Henri held her close. "The pain never goes away, _ma cher_, but it gets better with time." He kissed her forehead and let her cry into his shoulder. "With time..."

* * * * *

Johns raised an eyebrow at the returning trio. Inigo's hands and arms were covered in blue alien blood. Angela was entirely coated with it. Riddick had a spattering of the blue blood on his front, but also had a deep red stain and a hole in his shirt. Johns wondered how he'd gotten hurt.

Angela was all business as she started barking orders. "Alright, Inigo start a fire. We need to cook this meat if it's going to last any length of time. If anyone here happens to be a decent cook, speak up 'cause I know for a fact that Inigo is a lousy chef."

Inigo gave an indignant snort at the insult, even though it was perfectly true.

"I want the rest of the vampires to come with me for one last meal before we take off." She looked at the setting blue sun and rising red suns. "We haven't much time. Is the ship ready?"

"Aye, yer ladyship. The wings is all patched, the 'lectronics is all hooked up, an' ever'one's packed te go." Collin clapped his hands together to punctuate his words and his enthusiasm.

"Okay then, last meals, cook and pack the meat, pack the vegetables, and it's probably a good idea for everyone to take a trip to the bathroom too. Everyone clear on what they need to do?" Heads nodded all around. "Alright, everyone with fangs, follow me."

Everyone but Henri obeyed. He'd taken Shazza to an alley where she could cry with some privacy. He couldn't see the others, but he'd heard everything said. He sensed Inigo's presence and looked up.

He was perched atop the wall of the alley. He lifted his hand and gestured towards the hunting grounds, a question on his face.

Henri mouthed the word "Later." Inigo shrugged and left. Henri knew he would return when it was his turn to go eat, but for now, Henri was reluctant to leave Shazza alone. Her sobs had reduced to silent tears, but she still clung to him like a life preserver.

He pressed soft kisses into her hairline while whispering assurances to her. "It's alright, _cherie_. We're getting off of this planet soon. A few hours at most, then everything will be fine. Don't worry."

He tried to kiss her cheek, but Shazza turned her head and met his kiss on the lips. Surprised by the move, Henri lifted his head away, but she put her arms around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. Their lips met softly at first, then she began teasing the corners of his mouth with her tongue. He opened up to her, and their mouths met fully in a passionate play of tongues.

Henri was rather at a loss for what to do. He was usually the seducer in a situation, but this was different. She was grieving, seeking comfort any way she knew how. Henri was too much of a gentleman to take advantage of her.

_Damned scruples_, he thought as he ended the kiss. If it were any other circumstance, he would gladly give her what she wanted. He looked at her passion-glazed eyes and kiss-swollen lips. _Gladly._

"What's wrong?" she asked breathlessly.

"The hurt is too new, _mon cher_. To continue this, would be to take advantage of you, I only take advantage of those I plan to eat," he joked. "And I do not plan to eat you." He pulled her into another searing kiss that left her gasping for air. "However, if you wish to continue this when we reach civilization, let me know, and I will be most happy to accommodate you."

Henri wiped away the last of her tears, and led her back out to the skiff and the others. If anyone noticed her well-kissed, tear-streaked face, they were tactful enough not to say so.

Shazza saw Inigo burning the meat, so she took over the cooking for him. He readily relinquished the task and kept the fire blazing for her.

A few hours later, all of the vampires had returned quite sated from their meal, and Shazza had packed away the last of the food on board the skiff.

"Is that it then?" Paris asked. "Have we gotten everything?"

"Just let me change out of this," Angela said, motioning to her stained clothing. The old jumpsuit was so tattered it was threadbare, and so soaked with blood it was practically dripping. She went into the barracks and changed into one of Collin's spare suits. He was the closest to her size, but the suit was still baggy and ill-fitting.

"Well," Paris was almost giddy with their escape so near at hand. "Shall we be off then?"

Angela hesitated. "Not yet."

"What's the problem?" Fry asked.

Angela looked up at the red suns. The blue one has already set. "I want to see the eclipse...one last time."

Johns huffed in frustration. "You've fucking seen it for the past three hundred years. Let's go!"

She glared at him. "It's precisely for that reason that I'm going to stay. It's less than an hour away, and besides it's quite a spectacular sight. You might want to see it for yourselves. Nonetheless, I am not leaving yet."

No one argued the point, though Johns was less than pleased. The only reason he didn't argue was because his withdrawal had begun again. By the time he found his red shells, he was in the dry-heaving stage. He found a quiet corner in which to shoot up. When he came out of the initial haze of the injection, he heard awed shouts from the Arab's. He rejoined the others to see what was so damned incredible.

Everyone was looking towards the horizon. Twin black rainbows rose ominously to the suns overhead.

"Fuck me," Johns whispered. He stood a moment, just as enraptured as the rest, then made a hasty retreat to the skiff.

More awed words heralded the arrival of the dark orb of the planet as it made its way up in the sky. Then everyone hushed, simply watched as the planet and its rings inched up to the suns.

One ring blotted out a sun, and a shadow crossed over the planet. The nightcrawlers began yowling in anticipation of release from their underground prison. The other ring cover the remaining sun, and all hell broke loose in the nightcrawlers' lair. The spires that marked their territory belched forth screaming masses of hatchling creatures. They twisted up into the sky like a volcanic eruption.

"Let's go, people!" Johns yelled from the skiff. "What the fuck are you waiting for, an invitation to dinner? _Let's go_!"

Everyone jumped into a run to the small craft. Riddick stopped and turned back when he realized Angela wasn't moving at all.

She was oblivious to everything but the swirling cloud of death before her. Her mind drifted back over the past centuries she'd spent here. The sights, the sounds, the smells of every horrific day and night she had lived here were permanently ingrained in her memory. She silently wept for all the life that had been lost because of that black swirling mass, including the three centuries of her own life she would never get back.

Riddick broke her from her reverie. He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the skiff, yelling "We have to go, _now_!"

She snapped back to the present in time to see a hoard of nightcrawlers break from the mass and fly straight to her.


	7. Are we there yet?

The stream of clawed death flapped energetically. It seemed to know that prey was just a few seconds' flight from their home.

Angela and Riddick ran inhumanly fast back to the skiff. The moment everyone was on board, Johns slapped the hatch control to the "close" position.

The skiff's running lights illuminated the area, but the small creatures were moving too fast. Inertia sent them slamming into the hull before they screeched and limped back into the darkness. One even got through the nearly-closed hatchway, heading right to Imam's face. With catlike reflexes, Collin snatched the little beast before it could touch the Arab.

"Thank you," he breathed to Collin.

"Ne problem a'tall," Collin smiled. The smaller animal squirmed and squealed, beating its wings against Collin's arm as it burned in the lights of the cabin. Collin cocked his head, regarding the process with interest. "So that's whot'll 'appen te me if I decide te get a tan back on Earth, eh?"

"Nasty business, dyin' like that," Riddick said, equally fascinated by the nightcrawler's death throes.

Collin bit into it, and the squealing stopped.

"I thought you already ate?" Shazza asked.

He finished and reopened the hatch enough to toss the body outside. "Younglings like me is always 'ungry."

In the pilot's seat, Fry powered up the engines and called to her passengers, "Everybody strap in and hold tight. We're outta here."

Those left without a seat in the cramped space clung to the walls. The skiff rocked as it plowed through the teeming masses of nightcrawlers in the air. Once out of the atmosphere, a collective sigh of relief echoed in the cabin.

"This most definitely calls for a celebration," Paris said. He shuffled through a container at his feet and pulled out a bottle of brandy. He took a long swig and passed it around to the others. When the bottle made its way to Collin, he sniffed it and shrugged, and was about to take his celebratory swig when Riddick grabbed it from him and gave it back to Paris.

"No more booze," he ordered. "It'll dehydrate us, and we need to make these supplies last as long as possible. We don't know how long we'll be out here."

Johns rummaged in another container and came out with the book he'd stolen from Henri. "Get comfortable, people. It's going to be a long wait." He settled back into the co-pilot's seat and opened the book.

The floor of the skiff was packed with containers. Those who had seats couldn't even bend their knees into a sitting position. They had to prop their feet up like they were in reclining chairs - uncomfortable reclining chairs. Angela, Riddick, Inigo, and Daniel were left without seats and had to cram at the rear, sitting on boxes and unable to move out because of the criss-crossing legs in front of them.

Riddick was the first to tire of the cramped position and levitated to the ceiling. He stretched out with his back against the wall and his head cradled in his hands, "laying" in perfect comfort. Angela joined him. The only clue that gravity existed for the two was that Angela's hair dangled long enough to tickle Jack's ankles. Angela noticed and began braiding the length of it. The resulting rope of hair swayed with the slight movements of the ship. The two of them were able to doze lightly in their high positions.

Henri rummaged for his other books, keeping one for himself and passing the other to Inigo. They began reading.

The next several hours were marked by silence. At first, everyone was simply too wrapped up in their own thoughts to say anything. As the silence dragged on, everyone decided that they weren't going to be the one to break it. However, none of the vampires seemed to mind the quiet. They were old enough to know that the true virtue of silence was not having to listen to someone else's inane chatter.

Jack and Ali, being the youngest and least patient, were fidgeting in their seats trying to get comfortable without making too much noise. Their seats squeaked and creaked as they moved around.

Johns finally broke the silence. "Stop squirmin'. It's gettin' on my fucking nerves."

They slouched into their seats, unmoving.

"Lay off, Johns," Riddick said from above. "They're just kids."

"I don't have to listen to them squeak the whole damn flight."

Riddick shrugged. "Doesn't bother me."

"Cool it, fellas," Angela interjected. "The squeaky seats don't bother me either, but I'll be damned if I'm going to listen to you two children bicker all the time."

Riddick smiled. "He started it."

Angela rolled her eyes. Jack and Ali suppressed a giggle. Riddick's jest lightened the mood a bit.

"So tell us about you," Jack said to Angela. "Other than 'You crashed there first', you haven't told us much."

Angela shrugged. "Not much to tell."

"Tell us anyway," Jack prodded. "It's not like there's anything else to do."

She frowned at Jack. "I don't talk about my past...not even with Richie, and I'm closer to him than anyone else."

Jack opened her mouth to prod further, but Riddick shook his head at her. "Don't bother, kid. The first _and last_ time I tried to pry, she cut off my arm. It was a bitch to get back on too."

"I _never_ cut off your arm," she said indignantly. "It was just your hand, there's a difference."

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "More tendons and muscles you gotta line back into place before it'll heal properly. And he's right, they_ are_ a bitch to put back on."

"How did you get your hand cut off?" Jack asked.

Daniel gave a feral smile. "Vamp hunters. Almost got my head, but he only managed my hand. I killed him for it too."

Johns took enough interest in the subject to look up from his book. "Vampire hunters? People really do that?"

All of the vampires nodded, except Collin. He seemed a little nervous by the information.

Johns made eye contact with Riddick. "Sounds like a line of work I could get into."

Riddick peeled off his goggles and dropped them in Jack's lap. "Don't bet on it, cowboy. I'd be honor-bound to my kind to kill you then. Besides, the hunters prefer their people sober."

Johns snarled. "Well apparently, I can catch you when I'm hyped. It's only that damned bounty on your head that's kept me from trying to kill you." He went back to his book, confident that he'd won the argument. Riddick's silence confirmed his confidence, and he smiled.

He didn't see Riddick smile and give Jack a knowing wink. Jack bit down a laugh as she winked back.

* * * * *

The next few days fell into a routine. Fry and Riddick would switch out piloting duty. Johns would steadfastly refuse to acknowledge Riddick's existence unless he thought he could get a quick insult into the conversation. Everyone would shuffle around every few hours, exchanging seats or ceiling space to keep their blood circulating.

Henri kept everyone entertained with amusing or amazing little anecdotes from his life. The children found the tales especially enthralling.

"Wow," Jack breathed after Henri had finish one of his "how I saved the day" exploits from the French and Indian War. "That is _so_ cool. I want to be a vampire too."

"_NO!_" came every adult voice in unison.

Jack colored deeply, wishing she'd kept her mouth shut.

"Listen, kid," Riddick soothed, "it ain't all glamour, y'know. The foods you used to love now make you sick. Try to go in the sun anywhere on Earth, and you'll fry faster than those nightcrawlers in a tanning salon. You can't tell those that you're closest to - even family - anything about what you are, or Inigo and me will have to pay you an _un_friendly visit. Everyone hates and fears you, and that's _if_ they don't just think of you as a cheap Halloween costume or bad cult movie. There's even an armed, organized group hunting you into oblivion...We all had our reasons to join up, kid, but not one of 'em was 'cause it was 'cool'."

Jack nodded, properly chastised but at least she understood why.

"Besides, _petit_," Henri said, "you are too young. You'd have to be at least into your twenties to be brought across. We have rules about that sort of thing."

"What would happen if I was, uh, 'brought across' this young?"

"As far as breaking the rules, _niño_," Inigo answered, "nothing would happen. At least nothing for the Enforcers to do...but you _would_ be punished by having a shorter 'lifespan' in any one place. I would say you could pass for as young as thirteen and as old as seventeen...maybe. That is only four years to show up, live that life, then move on. Older ones like us have ten and even fifteen years between new lives. It is far easier, I assure you."

Jack nodded and thought no more of becoming a teenage vampire. She had enough trouble in her life right now. She sighed and slouched against the hatch - the shuffling cycle left her and Ali without chairs. "So how long we been out here?"

Riddick checked the console - it was his shift as pilot. "Three days, give or take a few hours."

They had hit the shipping lane the day before and had been steadily broadcasting an S.O.S. since they had left the planet. So far, no responses. Riddick glared at the sensor array each time he sat in the pilot seat, as if that would make a ship appear on the screen.

* * * * *

Another day passed. Johns had read through the _Inferno_ twice. Henri had run out of stories to tell, and any stories the others were willing to share weren't suitable for children, so they stayed quiet. The boredom was getting to all of them.

Jack had a seat again but still wasn't comfortable. She slouch, then squirmed, then turned sideways and jammed her shoulder into the back of her chair before settling down to sleep. A drop of moisture hit her on the head. She looked up.

Collin was on the ceiling, absolutely sound asleep, quietly snoring...and drooling like a leaky faucet.

Jack reached up and smacked him in the chest. "Wake up, man!"

Collin jerked awake. The shock of his rude awakening made him lose his concentration and he dropped. He managed to catch himself before crashing on the legs of those beneath him.

He snarled. "Whot'd ya do that for?"

"You were drooling on me!" she snapped at him.

He floated back to the ceiling with his arms crossed defensively in front of him. "I dinna _drool_."

"Well then, check for leaks up there, 'cause somethin' wet hit me."

Collin was about to retort when an alert bleeped from the piloting console. Riddick worked the controls furiously, then abruptly stopped, staring at the readout.

"What is it?" asked Imam. "What is wrong?"

"Not a damn thing," Johns laughed as he also looked at the readout. "It's a merc ship!"


	8. There's no place like home.

Johns did all the talking when the merc ship hailed them. He identified them as the survivors of the _Hunter-Gratzner_ and could they board, please.

The mercs allowed them to dock in the larger ship's spacious bay. As the hatch lowered, Johns warned them, "They'll be there with guns drawn. Standard procedure with unknown vessels, don't worry."

True to form, a dozen mercs with rifles aimed flanked either side of the hatch. Everyone filed out slowly, not wanting to alarm any itchy trigger fingers.

Johns strode up to the man in charge, noting the admiral's insignia on his uniform. Johns saluted smartly, "Sergeant, First Class, William K. Johns, sir."

Rather than return the salute or even acknowledge his presence, the admiral brushed past Johns and moved to stand toe to toe with Riddick. "Well, well...the infamous Richard B. Riddick, murderer and escapist extraordinaire." The corners of his mouth twitched in a smile. "I'm honored."

"Yessir, he's my prisoner," Johns was quick to assert his claim on Riddick. He knew it was within the admiral's power to claim Riddick for his ship, collect the full bounty, and distribute it to his crew as he saw fit. However, as long as Johns made his claim up front, the admiral would be the only one with that authority, and he would probably be easy to bribe with a fifty/fifty split, rather than the small fraction he would get if he spread it around to the crew of a ship this large.

Riddick's silver eyes stared right back into the admiral's cold blue gaze. "Actually, I'm no one's prisoner."

The admiral cocked a blonde eyebrow. "Indeed?"

"What the fuck are you talking about, Riddick?" Johns demanded.

Riddick looked at him with a smile, then back at the admiral. "The good sergeant and I have a verbal contract. If I don't kill anyone - and I haven't - and I help them escape that planet - and I did - then Johns would set me loose, forget I ever existed."

"I see." The admiral paced thoughtfully. "Is this true, sergeant?"

"No," Johns lied. Only he and Riddick had been in that chamber, so it was the word of a merc versus the word of a criminal. "He's just tryin' to save his sorry ass from prison."

He continued pacing, not looking at anyone or anything in particular. "Your claim to freedom has been disputed, Mr. Riddick. Can you prove your case?"

"I got a witness who can testify. She heard every word."

Fuck! He'd forgotten the sister could hear in the chamber even though she was outside. Though, that gave him an idea. "No, she can't," Johns protested. "She's Riddick's sister. She'd be biased in his favor, and she's probably a lying bitch too."

The admiral stopped pacing abruptly and faced Riddick. "I was unaware that you had a sister."

Riddick shrugged. "We thought she was dead." He reached back through the small band of survivors and brought Angela forward.

The admiral stared open-mouthed at Angela for a moment, but quickly remembered where he was and straightened. He whirled on Johns, but his orders were to the mercs surrounding them. "Commander, put Sergeant Johns in the brig for breach of a binding oral agreement. Then see that all of our guest are treated in the infirmary for any injuries and settled into quarters."

"Yessir, Admiral, but what about the prisoner?"

He looked Johns in the eye. "Mr. Riddick is mine."

Two guards disarmed a struggling Johns. "You can't do this!" he cried. "He's a murdering son of a bitch, and he's _my bounty_!"

The admiral held up a hand for the guards to halt. "Firstly, _sergeant_, I do not take well to such foul and base language aboard my ship. Ask any of my crew. Secondly, I outrank you. Therefore, I can do as I please on my own ship." He stood nose to nose with Johns so that only he could see the admiral's eyes shift from their icy blue to a flaming gold. "Lastly...Richard is _my_ son, and I assure you that I am not a bitch." His eyes returned to normal as he walked away.

Johns went limp at the revelation that this admiral was another vampire, and Riddick's father at that. As the guards dragged him away, he began struggling again. One of them busted his head with the butt of a rifle, and Johns fell unconscious. The guards would rather handle dead weight than struggling weight.

Riddick put an arm around Angela and followed their father out the door.

Commander McConnel didn't see exactly why Admiral Lacroix wanted Sergeant Johns in the brig, but orders were orders. Besides, this Johns was a Grade A jackass if there ever was one, and he got on McConnel's nerves.

McConnel took the rest of the little survivor group to the infirmary. Only he and the head doctor knew that the admiral was a vampire. So Riddick and Angela were not only vampires, but the admiral's children too...interesting.

"Does anyone else want to claim a relation to Admiral Lacroix?" he asked the group behind him as they walked down a corridor.

Inigo spoke. "Four of us are vampire. The humans know about us, as I'm sure you do as well."

McConnel nodded. "Yes, I know, and so does Doc Ratcher. The crew is entirely human and entirely unaware of their commanding officer's state of being. We would like to keep things that way."

"So it shall be," Inigo replied. Everyone nodded agreement.

In the infirmary, Doc Ratcher - an aging but capable physician - gave the vampires a quick once-over and a discharge of perfect health. The humans stayed a little longer so Doc could patch their few scrapes and bruises properly. Though it had been almost a week since the crash that gave them their injuries, Doc liked to be thorough.

* * * * *

Elsewhere in the ship, Lucien Lacroix held his lost daughter. "Sweet Angelique, how I mourned your death, and now here you are."

Angela let the Frenchalization of her name pass. Normally she would have bitten out a correction and stormed away, but right now, she didn't care. She had been stunned and ecstatic by Richie's appearance, but this was different. This was her father, her master, her creator. Feeling his grip around her shoulders cemented the reality of it for her...she was home.

She looked up at him. It was the closest to tears Lacroix would ever be. He almost couldn't believe that she was here. He had accepted her death three centuries ago, but she was here now. "Where have you been, Angelique?"

"Long story, pops," Riddick said. "Maybe over a decent meal. Those nightcrawlers gave me a stomach-ache."

Lacroix raised an eyebrow. "Nightcrawlers?"

* * * * *

In the brig, Johns rattled the bars that imprisoned him. "Let me outta here!" he yelled. "I'm a Mercenary, dammit! We're supposed to be brothers here."

A guard appeared and slapped the bars with his baton. "Shut the fuck up, _brother_, or I'll shut you up. Admiral says you gotta stay here, so there's a damn good reason for him - and the rest of us - to not like you."

The guard left Johns clattering his cage and screaming in fury and pain. He was starting withdrawal again. Right now it was abdominal cramping, but that would soon progress to splitting headaches and nausea. Johns didn't want to find out what happened after that.

The loud noise eventually made the guard return, baton at the ready to hit Johns this time instead of the bars.

"Listen," Johns pleaded with him. "If you let me out, we can cash in Riddick together. Even half that bounty is more than you could ever get here."

The guard contemplated the idea for a moment. "How much he worth exactly?"

Johns smiled. _The creed is greed_, he thought. "Over a hundred and fifty thousand." He didn't bother to mention that it was closer to three hundred and fifty alive, and he still hoped to take Riddick that way.

"That so?" The guard rubbed his chin and tapped the baton against the bars as he thought. "Johns, was it?"

He nodded.

"Well, Johns, I'm Lieutenant Rorye, and you've got a partner."

* * * * *

"I think this is the admiral's table."

Shazza looked up from her drink to the voice that had spoken.

She had headed to the ship's lounge the first chance she'd got. The doctor had looked them over, and then they'd been given quite luxurious quarters. When she looked through her room, she'd found the large, full bed and realized anew that no one would be sharing it with her. That's when she'd squelched the urge to cry again and went for a drink.

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

Henri shrugged as he grabbed the chair opposite her and turned it around to straddle it. "It has the best view." He looked out the enormous viewports to the passing stars. "It is set apart from the other tables. Not to mention that it's acoustically private."

"'Acoustically' private?"

He nodded. "The acoustics here are set up so that noise from the rest of the room is muted, and any conversation held here cannot be eavesdropped upon. Vampires are very sensitive about what they hear and what they want kept private. If the admiral sat here, he would be able to listen to anything he chose and not have it blaring in his ear, and he would be secure in knowing that he could speak freely with whomever sat with him."

"Oh," she said, not really interested, and raised her glass for another drink.

Henri stopped the glass from reaching her lips. "Alcoholism doesn't suit you, _ma cher_."

"Don't plan on makin' it a habit." She freed her glass from him and downed the contents in one gulp. She hissed through clenched teeth as the liquid burned its way down her throat.

Henri shook his head and sighed. "Perhaps no, but that's a good way to start." He rose, stealing the bottle of whiskey from Shazza's hand. "Come with me, _chérie_. I know what will make you feel much better."

On their way out of the lounge, Henri gave the bottle back to the bartender. Lacroix and his two children passed them going in. He stopped long enough to order a bottle of his "special vintage" and inform the bartender that their guests would be privy to drink it as well.

Over a thoroughly nourishing and welcomed bottle of blood, Angela and Riddick told their respective tales of how they came to be on that godforsaken planet. Lacroix was particularly interested in Angela's time alone, surviving purely on animal instinct. When he last saw her, she had taken up the wayward ways of her deceased brother, Nicholas.

Nicholas had long doubted the bloodthirsty and superior attitude that vampires traditionally held. They were superior beings, surrounded by creatures who were more or less cattle to their species. However, he had looked upon humanity as brothers to the vampire community. He saw no reason to kill them, no reason to be superior. His guilt over his own bloodthirsty nature was what finally drove him to suicide.

__

Assisted suicide, Lacroix remembered with a pang. He had been the one to drive that stake through his son's heart...on the basis of being his friend, not his master. He had been right to help him die. Nicholas was simply not meant to be a vampire anymore.

Angela had known him only briefly, but those few years had been enough for her to start doubting as well. When Nicholas died, she became nearly obsessed with finishing what he had started: finding a way to become human again. Until she could find that way, she was content to be humanity's champion. She spent a few decades in law enforcement, but then decided she would be more useful to humanity and her own search in the medical community. That's how she ended up on that ship and on that planet.

The woman sitting before Lacroix now was not the wide-eyed, idealistic girl that had boarded that ship. She held herself rigidly in a perpetual defensive posture. Her eyes darted everywhere looking for potential dangers and enemies. Her ears twitched, noting the location of every heartbeat in the vicinity. Even in the safety of his ship, she was ready for attack and was prepared to defend herself accordingly.

__

More the animal that vampires are than the human she once sought to become, he mused.

After they finished their tales, they began discussing where they would go from here. Angela made it clear that she wanted to stay with her brother. Riddick didn't mind the idea of company. Lacroix told them where they could get in touch with Aristotle.

"Make whatever identities you wish," he told them. "Just make sure I'll be able to drop you a line every now and again."

They agreed happily, and Lacroix got up to arrange a shuttlecraft for them. Before he could take two paces, he and half the room were thrown to the floor by a ship-lurching explosion. Alerts blared over the comm-system, and the lounge's patrons scrambled for their duty posts.

"What the fuck was that?!" Riddick yelled over the din.

"Was it a shot? Are we under attack?" Angela cried.

Lacroix's eyes blazed gold with fury. "If it's an attack, it's not another ship." He nearly bared his fangs at the thought of his ship under siege. "That blast came from inside."


	9. Check

Setting off an explosion in the armory was the second thing Johns had done. The first was to raid the brig locker and get his red shells. He made sure Rorye was too busy in the armory collecting weapons and setting charges to see him take a hit.

The armory hit was so that they would have weapons and no one else would. They took off for the engine room for their next target. Rorye led the way. Johns had the strategy, but Rorye knew the layout.

The engine room was a vast cavern housing the pulsing propulsion unit. Catwalks criss-crossed overhead, and people bustled about everywhere. It was usually busy here, but with alerts blasting, it was practically humming with nervous energy. It would be impossible for them to take the whole engineering section, but lucky for them, Johns and Rorye were only interested in the master control room set slightly aside from the rest of Engineering, and only a handful of crewmen were inside.

Johns and Rorye walked in, guns ready, and ordered everyone out. The chief engineer made a move for his sidearm, and Rorye blew a hole in his chest.

"Always hated that bastard," he grated.

Johns smiled grimly. The other crewmen fearfully shuffled out of the control room. Rorye sealed the doors, locking out anyone else that may want to play hero.

Johns went to work on the computer system. He may have dropped out of public school, but the MAE education centers more than made up for that. Johns' greatest strength was the joy he had in hunting bastards like Riddick down to the ground. However, he had also discovered an aptitude for computers that came in handy sometimes.

Now was one of those times. Rorye held the fort while Johns hacked his way into the main computer systems. It took him a while - whoever had programmed the security lockouts was good - but he made his way into the command protocols. He changed all of the passwords and clearance codes he could find, then booted up the interior sensors to find Riddick.

* * * * *

Lacroix headed straight for the bridge when the blast shook his ship. Angela and Riddick followed close at his heels.

"Report!" he barked the moment the lift doors opened to the bridge.

A wiry lieutenant at the security station ticked out the details. "An explosion in the main armory unit. We're pretty much limited to whatever we have on us right now. Blast also took out a line of power couplings. Decks 10 through 18 have fluctuating if any power and no life-support. They're being evacuated so we can seal 'em off."

Lacroix took his seat and brought around a computer console. As he checked the particular stats on the lieutenant's report, he asked, "Who the hell set off an explosion on my ship?" Lacroix had controlled his fury enough to not vamp out in front of his crew, but he was sorely tempted to charge down whoever had done this, and drink his fill.

"Unknown, sir," the lieutenant answered, "but I ran a security scan. Sgt. Johns isn't in the brig, and Lt. Rorye isn't responding to his communicator."

Lacroix slowly rose from his seat to glare hard at the lieutenant, who was his Chief of Security. Lacroix had personally suspended Rorye from duty due to blatant insubordination and charges of embezzlement. Chief Harding damn well knew he shouldn't have put Rorye back on the duty roster until he had Lacroix's say-so. Harding shifted uncomfortably beneath his admiral's gaze, but did not look away.

"We will discuss this later," he told Harding. "Get the internal sensors online. I want to know where they are immediately!"

"Sir," an ensign at the sensor array spoke up. "The sensors are completely locked out. I can't get them back up."

Suppressing a growl, Lacroix went to the ensign's console and began inputting codes and data. To each input, the computer responded, "Unable to comply. Invalid code."

Lacroix turned to his son, but before he could ask, Riddick answered, "Little prick's a genius when it comes to computers. Could probably hack into Earth Mainframe if he wanted to."

"Glad to know you think so highly of me," Johns drawled from the viewscreen.

Heads snapped up across the bridge.

"In case you didn't notice," he continued, "_I_ control this ship now."

The shot on the viewscreen was very tight to Johns' face, but Lacroix didn't need to see the background to know he was in Engineering. His vampiric eyes caught and focussed the tiniest flutter of movement behind Johns. It was Rorye guarding the door.

"What do you want?" Lacroix asked.

Johns shrugged. "Just what I started my trip with: my prisoner and transport to Slam City so I can collect my bounty."

Lacroix turned to look at his son.

"And no funny business," Johns warned, "or I'll start shutting down life-support deck by deck. Deliver Riddick unconscious and have a transport ready for me within the hour."

Lacroix eyed the man on his screen. Johns' eyes were bloodshot and wild. The vein in his neck bulged out abnormally large, and ticked off at a furious pace.

Riddick noticed his father's perusal and whispered too low for the comm-system to pick up, "Morphine addict."

Lacroix's eyes narrowed on Johns' image. His voice was no less menacing for all its quiet wrath. "I do _not_ respond to threats."

As far as he was concerned, the threats, demands, and negotiations were over. Lacroix raised his own sidearm and blew out the screen, effectively ending communications with Johns.

The bridge crew glance nervously at their leader. They weren't sure what he planned, but they trusted he had _something_ in mind. You don't blow out your link to the madman with his hand over your life-support controls without something up your sleeve.

That hope was dashed with Lacroix's question, "Well, Richard, do you have any idea?"

Riddick shrugged. "Prep a shuttle for him."

"What about you?" Angela asked. "He's not going to just leave...and even if he got you, he'll probably rig the ship to blow once he's clear."

He smiled and hugged his sister. "Trust me."

* * * * *

Johns paced furiously in front of the computer. They wouldn't just cut him off. The vamps might be able to survive without life-support, but the rest of the crew wouldn't. Was the admiral willing to risk the lives of his entire crew just to save Riddick from Slam?

He shook his head. No, there had to be something else. Lacroix had to have invested years of time and effort to make it to admiral. You don't just throw that away at the drop of a hat, not even for family.

They had to be up to something. They were planning some trick or trap for him.

"What do we do now?" Rorye asked.

Johns glared. "If you _shut the fuck up_, I could think of something!" he roared.

Rorye back off nervously, then turned to face the doors. He could see out the clear panels to the rest of Engineering. The crew stared back at him, anger and betrayal reflecting in their eyes.

He thinned his lips in frustration. He was beginning to wish he hadn't let Johns out. The lure of money had been his undoing, as usual, but now he had serious second thoughts about this whole operation. They were trapped in the control room with no way out unless this weirdo could come up with a plan.

Rorye wished he could be on the other side of the doors. He glanced at the chief engineer on the floor. One way or another, everyone on this side was royally fucked over.

Johns caught Rorye's longing gaze outside. The lieutenant was quickly becoming more of a liability than an asset. He tried to calculate when would be the best time to off Rorye: now or when he got the transport.

"Someone's comin'," Rorye called over his shoulder.

Johns looked out and saw Riddick approaching with his hands up. "Looks like they're surrendering."

Rorye smiled with relief. Maybe they'd get out of this after all. At Johns' okay, he opened the door for Riddick, who stepped in quietly with no sudden movements. Rorye stayed at the door, gun trained on Riddick's back. Johns stood at the other end of the room, gun in hand but not raised.

"Thought I said I wanted you unconscious."

Riddick lowered his hands. "If bullets can't take me down, you think chemicals will?"

"So what's the verdict, Richie? Do I have a ship?"

Riddick clenched his jaw at the nickname. "Yeah, Shuttle Bay 3, Admiral's personal yacht is bein' prepped for takeoff."

Johns nodded satisfactorily. "Now the big question: do I get you?"

Riddick shrugged. "I'm four-hundred years old...what's a few days in jail?"

Johns raised an eyebrow. "Days?"

Riddick pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Oh, maybe a week...at most. We have people in high places, Johnsy, and a lot of 'em owe me favors. One message to the right official, and just like _that_" he snapped his fingers for emphasis "I've got a full pardon, an apology for the egregious error, and maybe even a monetary compensation the shit that poor innocent me had to go through...'Course that shouldn't matter to you. You'll still get the bounty now, even if they release me later."

Johns considered this. He really couldn't see a down side to this bargain. He would get Riddick's bounty, and if he got free and screwed things up with the law again, Johns could hunt him down for another bounty. Plus he'll get to travel in an admiral's yacht. Merc admirals were notoriously decadent and lavish in furnishing and stocking their private vessels.

"So why're you willin' to help us?" Rorye was still suspicious.

Another shrug. "Why not? You get your bounty and your freedom. I get my freedom and my father's gratitude for saving his ship. Believe me, his gratitude is worth a lot. It's a winning situation all the way around. Besides, the alternative to this plan is for daddy dearest to take armed shuttles out and blast holes in the hull until you don't have any more air to breathe."

"That would kill everyone onboard" Rorye nearly screeched "including himself!"

Riddick gave Johns a knowing smile. "That's not a problem for him." He turned and addressed Rorye, "It's what environmental suits are for."

Rorye acquiesced, but didn't like any of it. This whole thing stunk.

Johns didn't care. He holstered his weapon and smiled. "You've got a bargain, Riddick."


	10. Checkmate

Rorye led the way again. Johns took the rear. Riddick was guarded in between them.

The trio marched down the empty corridors. Lacroix had gone on the ship-wide comm and told the crew not to interfere with Johns and Rorye. They had encountered only one crewman, who quickly backed against the wall with his hands raised. Johns kept his gun on the man until they rounded a corner.

The _Admiral's Yacht_, an appropriate if uninspired name, stood waiting in the hangar when they arrived. It was small, obviously the admiral himself traveled alone, but it had a sleek, predatory countenance that spoke of speed and evasive abilities. Johns liked it.

Again, there was no crew in sight. The large bay door was already open, and a thin force-field was all that kept the air from rushing out into empty space.

Johns looked over the yacht a moment longer before turning to Riddick. "You first."

Riddick ignored Johns' command to enter the yacht.

Some alarm triggered in Johns' drugged brain a split second before he found himself floating in midair. The gravity had been cut. He tried to turn his gun on Riddick, but every movement sent him spinning wildly. Rorye wasn't having any better luck.

Riddick calmly flew/floated to the _Admiral's Yacht_, which had been magnetically sealed to the metal deck. He took a small communicator from his pocket - Johns hadn't bothered searching him; bad move - and spoke a single word, "Now."

The communicator had allowed Lacroix to track their movements in the ship via the sensors on a shuttle outside the ship. When he saw that they were in the hangar, he'd ordered two crewmen to manually cut the artificial gravity. He waited for his son's signal that he was in position before implementing the next stage. Outside the hangar, Lacroix blew out two power conduits. The rest was up to Riddick now.

Inside the hangar, Johns realized that Riddick wasn't moving. He wasn't trying to stop them or kill them. He just lounged against the side of the yacht facing away from the bay door. Another alarm went off in Johns' head a split second before the lights went out and sent Johns to hell.

Lacroix had blown the power conduits to the hangar. No matter what kind of computerized crap Johns had pulled, it wouldn't matter without power. The transparent barrier of the force-field blinked out of existence. The air in the hangar was sucked out along with an unlucky Rorye, who had been close to the door.

Riddick grabbed Johns by the collar before he could be hurtled into space. Johns clutched Riddick's fist in desperation. While some air remained, Riddick growled, "Don't mess with my family, Johnsy-boy. You don't like what happens."

Johns couldn't protest as Riddick sank his teeth into the vein of his neck for a quick taste. Then the air was gone. Johns' lungs squeezed painfully in a futile attempt for oxygen. The void of space pulled at his body in ways it wasn't built to withstand. The fragile flesh of his eyes was the first to give. A mix of blood and the vitreous fluids of his eyes floated around Johns' head in a grisly halo. His ear drums were the next to give in and bleed into space. Johns mouth and face were contorted in such a manner that Riddick thought he might be trying to scream, but there was no air to push past his vocal chords, and no one could hear in a vacuum anyway.

The entire process took less than two seconds. Riddick watched it all with gruesome fascination before giving Johns' body a shove out to join Rorye. The two bodies twitched with residual neural energy, but Riddick knew they were dead.

He shrank back down against the yacht where he'd braced himself from the outgoing atmosphere. His eyes and ears were burning and straining against the pressure of being in a vacuum. He wished he'd gotten his goggles back from Jack; they might have helped a little.

With a hand tight over his eyes to keep them in place, Riddick felt his way to the yacht's hatch. They'd chosen the yacht instead of a basic shuttle because it had a small airlock. He got in and sagged with relief as the pressure around his body eased considerably. He floated to the cockpit and powered up the yacht for a quick trip out and up to Shuttle Bay 1, which still had power and gravity.

Once there, he headed out for Main Engineering and the computer controls. That quick bite of Johns' blood had been bitter and vile for Riddick to swallow, but swallow he had. For the next hour or so, that blood - tainted though it was - would give Riddick Johns' knowledge, including his short-term memory which held the new access codes. Riddick sat at the computer, sorting through the information in his head and on the screen.

He had planned it well enough: kill Johns and Rorye, and make sure to get a taste of Johns so he could figure out how to fix the computers. Lacroix had actually come up with the whole gravity/force-field thing. Riddick had just figured to promise them a shuttle and kill them both on the way to it. Lacroix wanted it his way though. He'd said they would expect something of that nature and would be prepared for it, but they would never suspect what had been in store for them. Riddick had to hand it to his father, he was one twisted bastard when it came to strategy - that being meant fondly, of course - but what else does one expect from a 2,400 year-old Roman general?

Riddick shook his head as he thought about Johns. He'd had potential, that one, but Johns was mortal, fallible, fragile...just like the rest. To be sure, his loss was a waste of possibilities, but Riddick's overall thought was a happy if selfish one.

_At least the game ended with a bang,_ he thought. Like he'd told Jack, Johns had gotten boring to play with, especially after the morphine started. Riddick had been ready to walk away without so much as a parting shot. Johns' little stunt let him end things with a bit of a flourish, and with Riddick as the indisputable winner. He'd been playing cat-and-mouse with authority since the day he was brought across. He had never really lost, but he hated when he had to walk away. It didn't seem sportsman-like.

Riddick slowly worked his way into the computer, moving through lockouts, blockouts, and traps to repair the damage Johns had done. A hand laid itself on his shoulder. Riddick had sensed her enter the room. "Hey, Angel-girl. What's up?"

"Lacroix's decided not to give us a shuttle," she said. "There's so much damage, he's going to dock at Station _Solaris IV_ for extensive repairs. He said it's three weeks from here, and when we get there, we can get a ride to Aristotle's."

She wanted to say something more, he was sure of it. He knew her too well not to note the slight quiver in her voice and the barest fluttering tremble in the hand on his shoulder. He punched in the final codes on the computer and stood to give his sister a hard hug.

It was all she needed to start crying. "I'm scared, Richie...Everything's so new, and I'm so...out of date...At least on that planet, I knew how to survive...here I...I..."

He waited for it. She always started with one thing, then roared about something else when she was upset like this. He didn't have to wait long.

She sucked in her tears, shoved him away, and slapped him _hard_. The resounding crack of her hand to his cheek echoed in the tiny chamber. "Don't you _ever_ scare me like that again, you bastard! You could have been sucked out into space with them! They could have shot you! Then where would you be? You know we don't have sensors on the ship yet and shuttle sensors aren't sensitive enough to pick out one dead body in cold space."

_How did she know what modern shuttles are capable of_? he thought with a cocked brow.

She read his face perfectly. "Lacroix told me. Just to frighten me, I'm sure."

Riddick shook his head. He wouldn't put it past Lacroix to pull shit like that just for kicks. He had an odd sense of humor sometimes.

He pulled Angela into another embrace. "It's alright, Angel-girl. We're together now. We're family, and nothing can separate that."

THE END


End file.
